My Riddles Three
I do not own Teen Titans, either the comic book adaptation or the version I am using now, which is based off of the Television series. I do not own any of the mythological beasts presented here. I do, however, own a very adorable budgie. Her name is Bluebell and she eats people who try to sue me.
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"Trouble,"
There never seemed to be a time for relaxation around the Titan's Tower. Raven looked up from the book she had been reading- she had just gotten to an interesting part- and Cyborg and Beast Boy's noisy video game had just gotten quiet enough that she might have been able to concentrate on her reading. She sighed- now it would be yet another week before she could get a good day's worth of reading in.
Robin stood at the door to the den, obviously waiting for some sort of reaction from his teammates. Cyborg and Beast Boy still stared intently at their game- so intently that they hadn't blinked in about three minutes. Starfire had been staring at their game with a vapid, disinterested look in her green eyes, and she was the only one to turn towards Robin, looking a little too excited at the prospect of danger, as it interrupted the boredom.
"Guys? Trouble," Robin said, and then, more firmly, "turn that OFF."
"Oh, come ON. I was just about to beat him!" Beast Boy protested, but nevertheless put down the controller and turned towards Robin. Cyborg immediately decapitated Beast Boy's character. The half-robot man turned towards Robin, a big grin on his face.
"What kind of trouble this time?" Cyborg asked.
"There's an all-out attack on the city below- the police weren't exactly specific. I just know it's bad. Come on," Robin said.
The Teen Titans immediately raced towards the exit- all except for Raven.
Something flickered at the edge of Raven's vision- she turned slightly, and caught a glimpse of a tan blur disappearing around the corner of the tower. "Guys… I believe I saw-"
She was too late. Her other four teammates, as always, had completely missed what she had said, being in slightly more of a rush to get out the door first and claim the prized status of being on the scene before the others. Raven shrugged- she could catch up with them later- and slipped towards the hallway.
She slid down the hallway, silent as a shadow- though stealth was not exactly possible; her midnight blue cloak, against the pale blue paint of the hallways, was about as inconspicuous as a crow in snowfall. Raven felt no overwhelming need to be stealthy- after all, she could very well being tracking a figment of her imagination.
No… there it was again. Something- something fairly large- none-too-quietly scuffled around the corner as she rounded another turn in the hallway. Raven sped up, racing down the hallway after the intruder. Once again, it just barely eluded her; whoever- whatever- this was moved fairly fast.
Raven ducked around another corner- and then dropped into a crouch as a board swung at her head.
No- not a board- it was a paw, an enormous brown paw built like a lion's. Raven slipped out of the way as the creature she had been chasing suddenly became the hunter, bounding towards her. Less surprised than just annoyed, Raven glided up towards the ceiling- effectively out of the creature's reach. She stared dubiously down at the creature, who growled back up at her.
It had the thin, finely boned face of a rather attractive woman- with the exception of the glowing, yellow eyes and pointed, fur-tipped ears. A long mane of auburn hair ran down the creature's neck, into her back- where the fur utterly consumed her body, turning it into a shaggy, ape-like body. Instead of human hands and feet she had lion paws- and a lion's tail. From her back, just below the shoulder blades protruded two small, utterly useless and somewhat furry wings. The creature grinned up at Raven, long, yellowed fangs bared in contempt.
It… she… was a Sphinx.
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"Where's Raven?" Beast Boy asked a little belatedly, as the Titans barreled
towards their destination.
"Good question. Where is that girl?" Cyborg demanded. He seemed fairly more disturbed by Starfire, who was ignoring the human's 'personal space rule' and flying about three inches above his head, than the whereabouts of their fellow teammate.
Robin chanced a glance behind him and, as they came upon the scene of the destruction, simply muttered, "We'll have to find her later."
Mass chaos had swallowed half the city. Cars were tipped, crashed, and left deserted, still running, in the streets and over the sidewalks. Pieces of buildings had been torn from their foundation and lay strewn about the cityscape. Those few people who had not fled… lay strewn as aimlessly as the bricks and concrete. "They're- they are no longer living!" Starfire exclaimed in horror.
Robin peered grimly over the mess. "Where are they?" He asked as he searched for some sign of whoever had done the damage.
"Why, my good friend, we are right here," hissed a low, refined voice.
The fallen stones and pieces of brick began to move- and take form. Plaster pebbles and rocks wrapped themselves around a humanoid form; long, slim limbs, a disgustingly long and drawn visage, a long, whipping tail. Wings were plastered together by the smaller of the pebbles- two long, slim horns grew from the beast's skull. The concrete thickened, hardened- drew black, to perfect, polished obsidian. The creature languidly stretched- and its eyes opened, stonework cracking along the edge and sealing back over just as quickly. Dead, empty pools stared at the Teen Titans. The Gargoyle saw their look of stupefied amazement and horror and it's face cracked into a grin.
A low growl from behind alerted them to another beast slinking over the tops of the cars. This beast was a deep, beating red, as if dyed in the blood of its prey. A Manticora. It had the body of a lion, the small, stunted wings of a dragon, and the long, menacing tail of a scorpion, its barbed stinger dripping with milky white venom. The worst was, framed by a scarlet mane, it's face- a horrible parody of man and cat, freakishly twisted around frighteningly human eyes. It snarled again- three rows of teeth glinted, shock white, in its cavernous mouth.
And, from the other side, the rattling hiss of a dozen snakes- a dozen sinuous heads, yellow and slick as night time before a storm. Two dozen glaring, beady black eyes. All of this, connected to one slimy, vomit-yellow body. Two long, barbed tails followed the amphibious bulk. The Hydra's many heads twined and twisted about each other, the heads taking turns in peering at the various titans.
"Now," growled the Manticora, surprising all as they had thought it had been the Gargoyle who had at first spoken, "I suppose it is fair to *warn* you to look away… for now we summon our Brother Basilisk…"
Something alongside the Titan's moved- moved with the sound of a knife scraping against stone. An enormous snake twined around them- not quite a snake, but something close- its body as thick and strong as a tree trunk, tiny, stunted and worthless claw-like limbs hanging at its sides. The Basilisk hissed a horrible, rattling snarl. Beast Boy stared into the mirrors- caught a flash of its baleful red eyes. To look a Basilisk directly in the eyes… deadly. If these were, in fact, really mythological beasts…
"Oh, I wouldn't look, my dear," the Manticora said with a laugh, to Starfire, "let me assure you, his gaze is much more deadly than his bite."
"Who are you?" Robin asked, keeping his voice steady, and his eyes locked on the deep azure eyes of the Manticora, "Who sent you?"
"Who sent us?" The Manticora repeated, and laughed. His laughter resonated about the clearing like the ringing of a dozen musical bells, "my dear boy, why do you think someone *sent* us? Is it not natural for four monsters of a Graecian past to come and attack you? Do we need a reason to want to see you dead?"
The Obsidian Gargoyle shrieked. The multiple heads of the Hydra hissed. The Basilisk's low hissed echoed in their ears. The Manticora nodded- and as one, the four creatures attacked.
~~~~~
The Sphinx stared evenly up at Raven. "Your friends are in danger. Surely you know that by now. But in order to get to them, you must first get past me. You must first answer my riddles three."
~~End part 1~~